


Vacancies

by hisloss



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Alternate Universe - Supernatural (TV) Fusion, Bisexual Percy, Canon Compliant to Titan's Curse, Divergent from Battle of the Labyrinth, First Kiss, Ghost Hunters, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Hand Jobs, M/M, Mutual Masturbation, Mutual Pining, Slow Build, Supernatural Elements, Underage Sex, questionable psychological sexual development
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-04-15
Packaged: 2018-03-14 17:31:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3419420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hisloss/pseuds/hisloss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They’d be taking a bus next to wherever the Gods meant for them to be, and Nico was grateful. He loathed public transport, but it was better than being alone with Percy for hours, listening to whatever station they could pick up to fill the silences. It had been almost three years of the same thing. Vast, unimportant stretches of US highway occasionally interrupted by monster slaying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What's New Pussycat

__

_@vriosart_

 

 

  _March 2012_

* * *

 

The motel door swung open with an ominous creak. The carpet was thin and dingy. The identical queen sized beds were lumpy. The décor had gone out of style decades ago.

“It could be worse,” Percy reminded him cheerfully.

Nico cursed under his breath. He was right. It could be a lot worse.

He crossed the threshold and dumped his duffel on the bed nearest the window. “I call first shower.”

Percy didn’t argue – he never did – and Nico closed the bathroom door firmly, locking it. It looked clean. The light over the mirror worked, and the water pressure, while far from ideal, was decent, and the head made a full and even distribution. He kicked off his shoes and shucked the pants, peeled the sweaty shirt from his back. They’d been on the road for a few days and any shower was good enough, really. Before stepping in, he examined himself in the mirror. He was thin. Pale. His arms were sinewy with muscle. His thick hair fell over his eyes. He needed a haircut. So did Percy. He scowled at his reflection. No thinking about Percy, he scolded himself. This is you time. His skin was sallow, but being on the road afforded little opportunity for fresh water and decent nutrition, and shadow jumps took a lot out of him. He stepped into the shower and vigorously scrubbed his scalp. The thing with the Lamia had happened almost a week ago, but he still couldn’t get the ichor out of his hair, the smell out of his nostrils.

He bathed quickly. Hot water in these conditions was precious. Percy, naturally, could bathe in any temperature water without consequence. Nico toweled his hair furiously, cheeks going hot. He went straight to his duffel bag, not meeting his friend’s eye. Only when the door was closed and the water running again did he drop the towel, hissing at the air hitting his flushed, half-erect penis. He put his underwear on over it, biting his lip. He fought the urge to touch himself and instead thought about Bianca and concentrated on deep, even breaths. Good. Pants. Clean socks. Two shirts over an undershirt – in case Percy had noticed how thin he’d gotten. His shoes. He knocked hard on the door.

“I’m going to take a look around!” he shouted.

“Be careful!” Percy’s muffled voice replied.

Nico slammed the door behind him.

In his pocket, he had about $17, enough for a haircut and something to eat. Percy would be disappointed that he’d eaten without him, but Nico didn’t care. Being on the road in such confined space with the other demigod was more than he could handle. He found a small barber shop two blocks from the motel and was serviced immediately. As he watched the hair fall, avalanching down the smock, he contemplated leaving. He could do it. Right now. He didn’t need money. He didn’t need anything that was in the duffel. He could make his own way. He was prepared to do that years ago.

But Percy followed him.

He gave the old man a tip for not trying to engage him in conversation and wandered back in the direction of the motel. Right across the street was a burger place. It was bright and cheerful. Nico could tell that the florescent lights were going to make him look like a vampire and physically pain his soul, but it was probably the only place in his price range. Also, he had a weakness for good burgers, and from the smell, there was no turning back. His stomach rumbled in appreciation.

He wasn’t surprised when he walked in and Percy was already there, waiting for him at the counter. He rolled his eyes and took the seat next to him. “You’re buying,” he drawled. Percy grinned and pointed to the miniature jukebox on the counter.

“Any requests?”

Nico fought a smile. “What’s New Pussycat,” he dared. Percy dropped the quarter in.

They left twenty minutes later, doubling over with laughter. Percy had ordered extra fries, and by the time they made it back to the motel the bag was heavy with salty grease.

“Do you want to order a movie? Or are you going to go straight to sleep?” Percy asked.

“Sleep,” Nico replied shortly. He was exhausted.

“Okay,” Percy conceded softly. Nico blushed and ducked his head, upset that he couldn’t hide behind his hair. “How long do you think we’ll stay here?” he asked.

“A few days, unless we’re needed somewhere. I’ll call Annabeth in the morning.”

Nico stuffed his hands deep into his pockets and wisely said nothing. Percy kept the TV low – though it wouldn’t have mattered - Nico was a heavy sleeper and at times like these he felt like he could sleep though a brigade of bulldozers. He crawled underneath the sheets and the cheap microfiber blanket and squirmed around, letting his clothes drop to the floor. Within minutes he was asleep.

* * *

 

In the nightmare, he was trapped in a massive bronze cavity. He could feel himself suffocating. Suddenly, stale air flooded the space, and Bianca was there, holding her hand out to him. She was shouting his name, and it echoed and bounced, multiplying. It was all he could hear. She pulled him out and took his place, and all his could do was slam his fists again and again against the Talos’s chest.

He woke up in a cold sweat. Percy was at his side instantly. Nico pushed him away like always and stumbled toward the bathroom.

“Nico,” Percy’s voice pleaded from the other side of the door.

Nico deliberately locked it.

Forgiveness was not an easy thing.

He washed his face and sat on the toilet, feet on the edge of the tub. An hour passed. Maybe two.

Percy was still awake, sitting up in bed.

"You want to talk about it?"

He shook his head. "It was the same one."

"Do you want to sleep with me?" he offered.

When he was younger, Nico had been eager to crawl in beside the other demigod, but he was almost fifteen now.

"I'll be fine."

He ignored Percy's look of disappointment and what it might mean, flicking off the lamp and pulling the sheets close around him.

* * *

 

They walked in silence. The park was a few miles away, but they thought it best to ditch the car. They’d be taking a bus next to wherever the Gods meant for them to be, and Nico was grateful. He loathed public transport, but it was better than being alone with Percy for hours, listening to whatever station they could pick up to fill the silences. It had been almost three years of the same thing. Vast, unimportant stretches of US highway occasionally interrupted by monster slaying.

The fountain at the park had better water pressure than the shower back at the motel, but Nico wisely kept that to himself. Percy was the one who hustled for the money to make sure they had beds to sleep in and indoor plumbing. He never complained.

Percy flipped a gold drachma into the spray and chanted, “Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Annabeth Chase at Camp Half Blood.”

The water shimmered, and a face framed by blonde hair appeared, stormy grey eyes radiating relief.

“Gods, Seaweed Brain!” Annabeth’s voice gurgled faintly. “I haven’t heard from you in weeks!”

“Just checking in,” Percy assured her.

“Well, luckily I don’t see anything going on in your area, so you can breathe easy for a week or so.”

“How are things over there?” Percy ventured.

“Better. The boarder is holding up, and we’ve got new campers coming in.”

“We’ll check back in a week.”

Annabeth looked flustered, finally noticing him standing there. “Nico! Hi!”

Percy moved aside. “Annabeth,” Nico greeted with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

“How are you?”

“Haven’t been sleeping well,” he informed her.

She looked uncomfortable. “Is there anything I can… “

“No,” he cut her off.

“Oh.” She ran a hand nervously through her hair. “Well. Okay.”

Percy scowled at him and he shrugged. “Next week?”

“Take care,” she agreed. The water rippled and sped back up.

“Why don’t you like her?” Percy complained.

“I don’t really like anyone,” Nico reminded him.

“You like _me_ ,” Percy insisted.

"Keep telling yourself that," Nico bit out, blushing.

Percy laughed. "I'll buy you an ice cream," he offered, gesturing across the park.

“Fine.” Nico followed him to the truck, damning the butterflies in his stomach _. I **do** like you. More than you’ll ever know._


	2. Squatter's Rights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sailorozma on tumblr!

_December 2007 – May 2008_

* * *

 

Nico tore through the woods. He tripped and fell a few times, but he ignored the stinging pain from the scrapes and cuts and kept going. Somewhere behind him, Percy called his name frantically. Part of him wanted to run back, but grief was stronger, eating him up. He collapsed less than two miles from camp, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Nico.”

He lashed out, startled.

“Go away!”

“Come back to camp.”

“I never want to go back there again. I don’t ever want to see you again. I wish you were dead!” he repeated the curse. They both waited for the ground to open up, but it didn’t. Nico started walking away, furious with himself. Percy being dead wouldn’t fix anything, and it would hurt. Not as much as Bianca. But it would.

“Wait.”

“I’m running away,” he insisted.

“I know,” Percy said softly. “I’m coming with you.”

Nico stopped. “No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am,” Percy said firmly. “Here.” He took off his jacket and threw it around Nico’s shoulders. “Wait here. I’m going to go get a few things.”

Panic welled up in Nico’s throat. He hugged the jacket tightly to himself.

“I won’t tell anyone where you are. Just give me fifteen minutes, okay? If I’m not back in time, you can leave.”

Nico balled his hands into fists and glared at him. “I’ll never forgive you.”

Percy hesitated, on the edge of reaching out, but held back. “I won’t ask you to. But I won’t let you go alone. Could you accept that? Me being with you until you’re old enough – until it’s safe enough – for you to be?”

“What do you mean, ‘safe enough’?” he asked, curious in spite of himself.

“I’ll explain everything. I promise. You can ask me anything and I’ll tell you the truth.”

A long moment passed.

“Fine,” Nico relented. “Don’t ever ask me to forgive you. Tell me the truth. Don’t make me come back here.”

Percy held out his hands, careful. “Fifteen minutes.”

* * *

 

He came back in nine, gasping for breath, two backpacks flung over his shoulder. “I’m always packed,” he explained. “And I grabbed your stuff from the Hermes cabin. I couldn’t fit everything, though. Your Mythomagic stuff – “

“I don’t want it anymore,” Nico scoffed.

“Okay.”

“Do you even know where we’re going?” Nico snapped.

“I have a vague idea.”

They walked to the end of the wood and Percy pointed. “There are some cabins out here. Vacation homes. One of them will be empty.”

“Are you sure?”

“Trust me. We won’t ever sleep outside.”

It took them less than an hour to find a vacant one. It was small, but it had a furnace, and Percy dragged the couch close to it so that Nico could sleep. He wasn’t sure where Percy slept that first night, but for the first few weeks it was always out of sight of him. They slept in empty houses – often new ones that had just gone on the market. Sometimes they were furnished, sometimes not. They slept in motels, in YMCA group homes. Percy found food for them and went off for most of the day to do odd jobs like walking dogs and shoveling snow. He had a credit card that his mom had given him, but it was only for emergencies.

“What do you want for dinner?” he’d ask.

At first, Nico liked to demand things that the other couldn’t possibly find. Percy would try as hard as he could. Often, he managed, but as they moved farther from New York, it became harder.

“McDonald’s,” he gave in. There was a McDonald’s everywhere.

“We had that last night. It’s not healthy.”

Nico scowled.

“Fine. McDonald’s,” Percy laughed.

“And cake,” Nico ventured.

“Cake.”

Nico twisted the skull ring on his finger. “It’s my birthday.” He’d been tracking the days on the calendar he’d taken from the first motel they’d slept in.

Percy brightened up. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I could have done something more special.”

Nico turned away from him, blushing hotly. “It doesn’t matter.”

“How old are you?”

“Eleven.” He decided not to factor in the years he lost living in Vegas.

“Okay. Cake and candles.”

“I don’t want candles.”

“You’re getting candles,” Percy argued. “And ice cream. And – no. Wait. It’ll be a surprise.”

“I don’t want - !” but Percy was already out the door. Nico cursed under his breath and hunted down the remote for the TV. He was almost asleep when Percy came back, arms laden with bags. He dumped it all on the small table. There was a cake, and a pint of ice cream, and something hastily wrapped in dollar store paper. Nico reached for it, but Percy pushed a McDonald’s happy meal into his hands.

“Dinner first.”

“I’m too big for happy meals,” he grumbled, but sat down and ate it.

“They were out of boy’s toys,” Percy explained when Nico had finished eating and was inspecting the toy that came with the meal. From the thick plastic bag, a pale blue horse with rainbow hair smiled out at him. “Oh! Rainbow Dash. That’s a good one,” Percy praised, mouth full of Big Mac.

Nico rolled his eyes. “This had better not be my present.”

“Cake first,” Percy reminded him, annoyingly pleased with the power he was exercising. Nico groaned and went to wash his hands. He was only letting him coddle and tease because he worked too hard to make sure that they never slept outside, never went hungry.

The cake was plain vanilla, with his name written on it in blue icing. The ice cream was Neapolitan. Percy lit two ‘1’ candles.

“Don’t sing,” Nico threatened.

Percy put his hands up in surrender. “Your loss. Your wish won’t come true unless we do the song.”

Nico frowned. Wishes were stupid. Wishes wouldn’t bring Bianca back. Or his mom. Wishing wouldn’t change the fact that they were sitting in a crappy motel somewhere in North Carolina.

“Okay. Sing,” he allowed.

Percy made it short, and he waited anxiously for Nico to blow out the candles. Closing his eyes, he took a breath.

_I wish I was normal._

* * *

 

After the cake and ice cream, Percy finally let him open the gift.

“How did you get this?” he breathed, tearing the paper away. The frame was obviously just as cheap, but it didn’t matter. In the picture, he and Bianca stood in front of a fountain in a brightly decorated casino. He was nine years old, maybe. He almost remembered that day.

“Lotus Casino has a website. It’s full of pictures of happy people.” There was bitterness in Percy’s voice, but Nico understood it. Lotus eaters coming up with new ways to lure people into their trap was disgusting and dangerous. “It’s okay if you don’t want to keep it,” he said, holding out his hand. “I just thought you’d like to see her face.”

“I’m keeping it.”

Percy smiled. “I’m glad.”

“But there’s something else I want,” Nico added.

“Okay…?”

“What did you mean, ‘safe enough’?”

Percy looked confused, but then remembered his promise. “Oh.” He sat back in his chair. “I meant… for demigods, it’s not safe. Out here. Until you’re old enough and you know how to control your gifts. And you and me? We’re pretty volatile, being sons of… I might invoke something bad if I even say their names, honestly.”

“How old is old enough?” he pressed.

“It depends. Demigods are at peak power around my age, but since we come from higher powers… I’m not sure. Maybe seventeen?”

“I’m stuck with you until I’m a legal adult,” Nico deadpanned.

“Basically,” Percy grinned.

Nico studied his sister’s face.

“Teach me how to control my gifts, then.”

* * *

 

New Orleans. Nico would have preferred to take a plane, but Percy was firmly against it. “Son of the sea god up in his jurisdiction is a bad idea.”

So they went by train. It was almost as good as an airplane, Nico reasoned, and he was sure that planes didn’t have a dining car open to all passengers with burgers as good as the ones they were eating. Surprisingly, Percy hadn’t tried to talk him out of testing and learning his demigod powers. He was adamant that it had to be far from camp, though, and preferably in a place that was close to the underworld.

“St. Louis Cemetery #1 is the most haunted graveyard in the country. It’s the best place to channel your powers and get guidance.”

Nico twisted the skull ring around and around. A graveyard sounded scary. “How do I channel my power?”

Percy looked thoughtful. “Whenever I want to, I sort of let my body become the sea? I open up my awareness to it; the depth, the pull of it, I trust the water. All water has a connection to the sea.”

Nico leaned heavily against the window. It didn’t sound like Percy knew exactly how to control his gifts, either. Sensing his doubt, Percy added, “No one has to tell you how to do it. It’s in our DNA. The first time I…” he blushed.

“What?” Nico demanded, suddenly interested.

“Okay, not the first first time, but definitely the first time I was really going for it, I sort of made all the toilets at camp explode.”

Nico gaped. “Why?”

“It was a fight, and I had to use what resources I had. The point is, up until then, I wasn’t really focusing. I think once you’re in you’re element, you’ll feel it. That focus.”

They found a nice hotel for once – “Every now and then we should splurge,” Percy said when he tried to protest – and waited for nightfall. From the restaurant where they had dinner – again, a much nicer place than they were used to – they ordered a to-go box of lamb cooked in red wine. Percy wrapped it in his insulated sleeping bag to keep it warm until well after midnight.

The graveyard was pretty big, and not at all hard to break into. Percy cleared the ground and set out the bronze plate, arranging the offering in it and setting a match to it. “I can’t stay with you,” Percy warned. “This is something you have to do on your own so that you can be strong enough. I’ll be right outside the main gate. If anything happens, run straight for it. Don’t stop. Don’t look back. I’ll be ready to protect you.”

Nico avoided his eyes and looked into the fire. When he looked up, Percy was gone.

He looked into the fire again and started to pray.

* * *

 

Hours passed. He was afraid that Percy had left him there. Abandoned him. Or maybe it was his father who was out of his reach.

The last of the offering smothered to ash. A single ember sat in the middle of the plate. Nico closed his eyes and made a wish. The ember sparked and shot up, whisking through the maze of tombstones, leaving a bright trail in its wake. Nico ran after it, and suddenly, he felt it. The focus. He felt the despair of every soul in the ground wailing out at him, propelling him forward. The bright string of light stopped in front of a white tomb. Flowers and candles littered the ground in front of it, and the face was marked with triplets of graffiti Xs. They glowed faintly, emitting a soft, pale green light. The ground shook, the white stone cracked open. From the fissure a firey image rose.

Marie Laveau wore her hair piled up on her head, wrapped up in bright red cloth. The shawl over her shoulders seemed to exist in seven different dimensions.

“Son of Hades,” she intoned in a deep, powerful voice.

* * *

 

Within two weeks, he’d mastered shadow travel and had survived descensum twice. It was taking too much out of him.

On Fat Tuesday, Percy bought him all the pancakes he could eat. “We need to move. Too much demigod activity in one place attracts attention.”

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere on the coast. I need to do some training now. You need to rest.”

So they went to Northern California, by the sea. Percy spent equal time training. At night, Nico battled sleep for dominance, unable to fight the pull into the darkness of his own personal hell. He could shadow travel as easily as taking two steps and controlled it well for all that it sapped him of his energy if he tried to jump more than a hundred miles. But descensum was a different beast. The powers that he invoked just to allow his body to leave the physical plane seemed to leech onto him. By late April, he was sleeping less than four hours a night.

They made it to Chicago by bus. Nico was so exhausted that he could have slept there at the station if Percy said it was too late to find anything else. Luckily, there was a motel right down the street.

“King or two queens?” the haggard looking woman behind the counter asked them.

“King,” Percy said clearly, putting down enough cash for two nights. The woman seemed very uninterested in them and not at all worried that an eleven year old and a fourteen year old were checking in to a motel at a quarter to midnight on a school night.

“Why did you only get one bed?” he whined as they walked down the hall. The walls were decorated in a slimy yellow wallpaper that made him nauseous.

“You’ve been having nightmares, haven’t you?”

“I’m fine.”

“I know you haven’t been getting any sleep. Maybe this will help.”

Nico was too tired to argue, so he just dumped his backpack on the floor and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. The room smelled strange. Musky. “It’s weed,” Percy said, wrinkling up his nose. “I’ll try to do something about the smell in the morning.” And he climbed in to bed beside him. Nico stiffened.

Their bodies weren’t touching, but he could feel the heat from his body.

It was easy to hate him, most days. For nagging at him to wash his hands and to eat vegetables, too. It was hard to forgive him, especially when his nightmares were all about Bianca. It was easy to love him. Nico _loved_ Percy. Sometimes, he was disgusted with himself for it. But others, like now, he was secretly thrilled to have those feelings waging turmoil in his heart. He knew that if he asked, Percy would hold him to help him sleep better. But it felt wrong to take advantage, so he scooted to the edge of the bed as far as he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually looked up the Happy Meal toys for 2008 for accuracy.


	3. The Shining, Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you go into this accept my apology for fucking up The Battle of the Labyrinth.

 

_June 2008_

* * *

 

Percy woke in a cold sweat. He looked around frantically for Nico. The bathroom light clicked on.

“Perce?” he yawned, “It’s four in the morning.”

“Nightmare,” he explained.

Nico turned off the bathroom light and gingerly settled himself at the foot of the bed. “How bad was it? Do you think you could get back to sleep?”

It had been pretty bad. For a while now, he’d been having the same one, but tonight it was finally sharp enough to make sense of.

“I need to talk to Annabeth.”

“It’s four in the morning,” Nico repeated.

“There’s a time difference,” Percy reminded him. If I start walking now, I should be able to find something to send an Iris-message with by the time she’s getting ready for breakfast.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I’m not tired anymore.”

He was telling the truth. His training drained him of energy, but now his sleep patterns were irregular. Sometimes he slept for only a few hours, other times two days in a row. Percy learned to expect it, and only panicked if Nico’s body became still as death and he glowed faintly – a sign that indicated his subconscious was being pulled to the underworld.

They dressed quickly, Percy trying not to stare. As hard as he tried, the younger boy’s body resisted nutrition. His metabolism was incredible, even for an adolescent demigod. His only conclusion was that the training was also to blame. His own frame was almost developing in a singularly opposite direction. He had muscle now. His abdomen and arms were strung tight with tension, like a wave just before it came crashing down.

They walked nearly two miles until they hit the suburbs. It was summer, so if anyone was home they were sleeping in. Percy picked the quietest looking house in the cul-de-sac and asked Nico to keep a lookout as he tossed a gold coin through the spray of a fan sprinkler. When Annabeth appeared, her hair was mused and she looked frantic.

“Percy! Gods, I was just about to call you!”

“Is everything okay? I had a dream about – “

“Luke,” she finished for him, nodding. “The Oracle told me last night. We’re in real trouble here, Seaweed Brain.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he promised. From the corner of his eye he saw Nico tense up. The image blurred and vanished.

“You’re going back to camp,” Nico said. Somewhere down the street, a lawn mower started up.

“You’re coming with me.”

His eyes narrowed. “You can’t tell me what to do,” he scoffed.

“You don’t have to come on the quest with me, but you’re eleven and I’m not leaving you out here on your own. Please just stay at camp.”

“What kind of quest is it?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t even know how long it will take.”

“So I could be stuck at camp for _weeks_. Even _months_. Even _a whole year_.”

Percy fought laughter. There hadn’t been time to ask Annabeth anything, but he was pretty sure Nico wouldn’t be allowed on the quest. The Oracle was pretty specific and strict about who was chosen. Since Annabeth ad received a prophecy personally, she was in. And Percy had been having dreams. He hoped it wasn’t Nico’s fate to come along. He knew nothing about the conflict between the demigods and the Titans. It would be better if he could stay at camp and get treatment for his sleeping disorder. It would put Percy at ease to know he was safe. He’d be able to concentrate better.

“Maybe.”

“What if I refuse to go? What if I shadow travel right now?” he threatened.

“I can’t explain to you why right now, but the whole point of this quest is to protect you,” Percy explained gently. “If you leave right now… I’ll go anyway.”

“Fuck you, then,” Nico muttered, shifting his weight toward the shadow cast by the house.

Percy ignored the profanity. “But I’ll send someone to track you as soon as I get to camp, and I’ll worry about you a lot. I’ll think abut you every minute.”

Nico’s cheeks burned. He hated being treated like a little kid. “Fine. I’ll go to the stupid camp. But I’m not going to sit around the campfire with everyone or do crafts or make friends.”

Percy grinned. “ _Right_.”

They hurried back to the motel and packed up their few belongings. They needed to be at camp within the next two days, so they first made a jump to Nashville. It was the farthest Nico had ever attempted, so the second they touched down he collapsed. Percy carried him piggy back to the train station and got them a private cabin with a cot. It was barely light out when they arrived in New York, and it took two cabs to get close enough to camp. Nico was heavy in sleep, and nothing would wake him. Percy was trying his best to stay calm, checking his breathing often. Thankfully, Tyson was at the edge of the woods, anxiously watching for them. He took Nico from Percy without being asked.

“It’s good you’re here,” he said. “Bad things happening.”

Annabeth ran to meet them as soon as they were in sight. Her hair was pulled up and back and she had that gleam in her eye that meant she’d been strategizing all night.

“What are we going to do with Nico? Put him in the Hermes cabin? I don’t think there’s any room, and if there is, he won’t get any rest. Is he okay?” she rushed, breathless.

“He shadow jumped us pretty far. I think he’ll be out of it for a few days. I really need someone from the Apollo cabin to look at him, but I don’t want him to wake up in the infirmary. He can stay in my cabin.”

Annabeth looked conflicted for a moment, but didn’t argue. “I’ll send Will Solace over. He’s the best healer we’ve got.”

Tyson set Nico down on Percy’s bed and shuffled awkwardly around as Percy removed his socks, shoes, and jacket. Hastily, he tore a piece of paper from an old hotel notepad and scribbled a note:

_I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. Will Solace from Apollo’s cabin will be checking in on your health. Be a good patient. If something happens to me, Chiron will look out for you. I_

he stopped himself from writing ‘I love you’.

But he did, in a way.

He signed his name and left it in Nico’s shoe, where he’d be sure to find it. He felt a strange emptiness in his chest, and before he could stop himself, leaned over and brushed a kiss to the younger boy’s temple.

* * *

 

 

“Annabeth,” Chiron flicked his tail nervously. “What you’re suggesting is against ancient laws. A hero takes only two companions. Four could tempt fate. Remember Bianca Di Angelo.”

A hushed silence fell over the council room and Percy looked down at the table. Annabeth named him as a companion, as well as Grover, but then she insisted on bringing Tyson, too.

Annabeth took a deep breath. “I need all of them.” After the council, they lingered, all four of them. “I know what I’m asking you is crazy,” Annabeth began. “Chris Rodrigez couldn’t even recon the entrance to the Labyrinth without…” she trailed off. Percy hadn’t seen Chris, but from what he’d heard, being underground had driven him insane. “But this is vital. If Luke manages to get to Daedalus first, he’s one step closer to resurrecting Kronos.”

“And no one wants that,” Percy finished. “I’m in.”

Tyson and Grover echoed their commitment and they disbanded, each to their cabins to finish packing. Percy rolled his sleeping bag out on the floor by his bed. All night, he had trouble sleeping. Not only was he worried about the quest, but not being able to hear Nico breathe was more anxiety-inducing. Will had been by earlier, while everyone was at council. He hadn’t made any promises about being able to cure the son of Hades, but he did have some treatment ideas.

Percy got less than four hours of sleep and was the first one at Zeus’s Fist the next morning, backpack full of batteries and a thermos full of nectar.

Annabeth looked as though she’d gotten less sleep than him, but she also looked determined to lead her first quest. As they descended into the darkness, Percy willed himself to leave all his worries about Nico behind.

Two hours later he acknowledged that he had no willpower whatsoever when it came to Nico. Also, they were lost. Maps meant nothing. Nowhere leading nowhere.

And then, because their luck was the worst, things got, well, _worse_.

There was no way of telling time underground, but Annabeth had a system for sleeping in shifts every 18 hours. Percy wasn’t sure how she managed to time it, but it seemed accurate enough. Percy often couldn’t sleep. He had nightmares about coming back to camp and finding Nico in a permanent coma or ones where he died and Nico was forced by Luke to raise Kronos from the dead. The only one who slept remotely well out of the four of them was Tyson, which was probably a good thing considering that they needed him to punch through stone walls that appeared out of nowhere. On the third “day” in the maze – Percy was having a hard time adjusting to the new schedule, which made him wonder how Nico coped with it, Gods. Nico. Was he okay? – they came to a fork. Standing in front of the two new passages was a man with two faces.

Grover gently shoved Annabeth forward, gaping. She frowned at him, but did her best to look like she was in charge.

“This way,” the right face said.

“Don’t be stupid!” snapped the left. “Obviously you mean to go this way.”

“Where does that way lead?” Annabeth pointed right.

“It could lead to where you want to go,” the left face said.

“Or it could lead right back at the start. Wouldn’t that be fun?” the right face smirked. “You’ll have to make a choice sooner or later.”

Annabeth looked like she was about to cry. Percy put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly, and she took a step forward.

“Janus,” she spat. “I know you, and I’m not scared of you, you minor god.”

Both faces twisted into a wry grimace. “I represent what you fear most,” both voices hissed. “Soon, you’ll have to make your choice.”

Annabeth’s face fell, and Percy realized that the minor god wasn’t just talking about the two options behind him.

“I’ll be ready,” Annabeth assured him. Even though her voice trembled, she sounded sure of herself. Janus rolled all four of his eyes and stepped aside, vanishing along with the left path.

“Right is the right way,” Annabeth chanted to herself, and they followed her.

* * *

 

 

After another sleep shift, they headed further into the maze. Percy had slept a little better knowing that whatever challenges Annabeth had ahead of her, she was willing to take them on. She was blatantly ignoring the line of the prophecy that hinted at her ‘last stand’. It sounded ominous, but Percy was comforting himself by remembering that lines in the prophecy weren’t literal. Last stand didn’t mean she was going to die. It could mean defeat of some kind, which Annabeth hated – she had her mother’s instinct for strategy and considered anything that conflicted with her logic a threat. The whole maze was beating her. It was protean to the nth degree.

They ate a quick meal of granola bars and juice and kept walking. After an hour or so, Tyson was the first one to spot light ahead. He narrowed his one eye and declared that he also smelled something odd.

And then they ran into a cow. Literally. It came at them from around a hidden corner. Percy smacked into it and got a face full of udder when he tried to get up.

“Holy…cows,” Grover deadpanned.

They had come up from underground, but the sky was so overcast Percy couldn’t really tell the difference. Hills rolled off in all directions and on every one grazed a huge red bovine.

“Apollo’s sacred animals,” Annabeth agreed. “What are they doing here on this…ranch?”

“We raise them for a number of select, elite clients,” drawled a voice. From behind a group of nearby cows, a short, brusque man stepped out, tightly reigning in the leash of a two-headed dog almost big enough for him to ride. He made a face and pulled at his wiry white beard. “Ugh. More demigods.”

“’More’?” Annabeth echoed.

“No more questions,” the man snapped. “The boss will want to see you.”

They followed him up the biggest hill on the property to a huge brick house trimmed in white. Annabeth murmured something under her breath about the architecture, but Percy was more focused on the man that stood imposingly on the front porch. His anatomy was like a Picasso painting, three bodies connected together poured into the widest pair of jeans in the universe. At his feet – all six of them – sat Nico, slumped over in defeat.

Percy broke ranks with the others and ran to him, only to be knocked back by one of the many arms.

“What are you doing here?” Percy cried out. “I told you to stay at camp.”

“I was worried about you,” Nico confessed. “I thought about you every minute.”

Percy felt himself blush and reached for his sword. “Let him go.”

The man grabbed Nico by the arms, pinning him to his side. “No can do, half-blood. Someone promised me a beautiful bounty for demigods, and when he finds out exactly who this one is, I think the price’ll _double_.”

“Was it Luke?” Annabeth demanded, suddenly at Percy’s side, knife drawn. “Luke, Son of Hermes? I can assure you, he’s not on the right side.”

The man laughed. It was a disgusting sound, a different squelching sound from each belly. “My dear,” he addressed her, “The only right side is the one that will benefit me the most.”

Behind them, Tyson doubled over and vomited. “They kill the cows!” he groaned, and suddenly Percy could smell it, too. The smell of blood and smoked beef.


	4. The Shining Part II

“Take me instead,” Percy heard himself say over the sounds of both Tyson and Grover retching.

“You demigods and your selflessness,” Triple Wide simpered. “Here. I’ll make you a deal, Son of Poseidon. He jutted his chin over the nearest hill. “My stables are in dire need of cleaning. If you can manage the job by sunset, I won’t kill your questing buddies, and you can take this whelp.”

Percy clenched his teeth. “Swear it on the River Styx.”

“Percy!” Annabeth warned.

“Nico’s life is at stake!” he argued back. “I’m not going to be reckless. For once.”

“I could always kill him right now,” the arm that held Nico tight slithered its long fingers over Nico’s chest to settle over his throat. “Or you could do me this favor and see if I’m nicer once it’s done.”

Percy tucked his sword back into his pocket with more force than necessary. “Fine,” he growled.

“Percy! It’s Hercules’s Fifth Labor!” Annabeth called as he turned toward the stables. “You have to –“

“Silence her!” Triple Wide ordered, and the ranch hand slapped a beefy hand over her mouth. Percy fought the urge to attack and walked down the path to the stables.

* * *

 

He returned several hours later, soaking wet and smelling of horse manure.

“Done. Now release Nico.”

“Mr. G has done some thinking, and he decided that it would be more to his benefit to hand you all over to Kronos,” the ranch hand drawled, tugging at his beard. “It’s a win-win situation. He gets his payment, and you all get to be together and live – for how much longer can’t be guaranteed, but…”

Annabeth broke free of his grasp and hurled her knife, hitting Mr. G straight in the middle of his three bodies. Nico fell to the ground and rolled down the porch steps combat style and reached for the long shadow protruding from the house. For a brief second Percy felt relief. Nico could shadow travel away. He’d be safe. But instead of disappearing, Nico reached into the shadow and pulled something out, a short sword black as pitch. He pulled Annabeth away and stuck a fatal blow White Beard, who was trying desperately calling for his dog.

“Run!” Tyson screamed, and they took off.

Once they were far enough away, Percy grabbed Nico and shoved him against the tunnel wall. Somehow, the path that they’d taken into the ranch had morphed back into the dimly lit sewerlike labyrinth.

“What the hell?”

Nico shoved back hard.

“You were gone for _three days_!” he said. “What was I supposed to – “ his voice broke.

“Gods, Nico,” Percy breathed. “I’m just glad that you’re okay.” It was then the he noticed the oversized headphones around his neck, and the fading dark circles under his eyes. “Have you been sleeping better?”

Nico touched the headphones, turning them so that Percy could se the sun emblazoned on the band. “Solace gave this to me. It plays healing soundwaves when I sleep. Cool, huh?”

“You need to go back to camp.”

“I can help!”

“I need to know that you’re safe.”

Nico scowled at him. “I know the prophecy. I know I have a part in it.”

Percy felt his blood run cold. “No. I promise. I’m not going to let – “

“ _The dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise_ ,” Nico recited. “I eavesdropped on Chiron. _The dead raise_ ,” he emphasized.

“I don’t get it,” Grover said.

“Minos sent sacrifices into the labyrinth,” Nico reminded them. “None ever came out alive. Except for one. I don’t know what you’re looking for in here, but you’ll need a way out. Only he can help.”

“Nico’s right,” Annabeth said. “But you have to promise to go back to camp right after.”

“I have a sword! I can fight!”

“Nico. If you can really do this for us, it would be a big help. We could finish the quest a lot sooner. Please promise me.” Percy begged.

Nico regarded him with barely suppressed frustration. “Fine,” he said at last.

They kept walking ahead, and silently, they were all glad when the path closed behind them.

* * *

 

As Nico slept, he took deep breaths. It made Percy relax to see him sleeping so normally. He probably would have liked it if the other snored. His skin seemed less sallow than before, though it remained pale. He was tempted to comb his fingers through the thick, dark hair, but stopped himself. He had that urge often, and he knew Nico wouldn’t like it. He’d admitted that he’d missed Percy – not in those words, exactly – but Percy knew that on some level he also resented him for all of the things he did to make sure they had food, water, and a roof over their heads. He resented being protected, being watched over. Worrying about it kept him up until it was his turn to sleep. Before he settled down he handed Nico his backpack and ordered him to eat. They hadn’t been able to carry much, so mostly they were getting by on granola bars and bottled water, but there were some sandwich wraps, too. Percy pulled one of those out, plus his last chocolate chip granola bar.

“You know I can just shadow out of here and get food, right?” Nico asked skeptically.

“I don’t want you wasting any energy before you do what you came here to do,” Percy argued. “Eat.”

Nico scoffed, but unwrapped the wrap and took a huge bite. Percy grinned and laid back, closing his eyes.

Annabeth and Grover took their sleep next, and then they kept moving. They passed sections of the maze where the walls were mosaic and parts where Percy was sure they were walking through an abandoned part of the New York subway system. Nico kept muttering under his breath about how they needed some dirt.

“I can get dirt,” Tyson said suddenly, stopping short.

“You could’ve said something _sooner_ ,” Grover grumbled.

They stopped in the middle of a huge open area from which eight different tunnels branched out. Tyson set himself up and punched the ground as hard as he could. Cement flew. Bits of decomposed things flew. Dirt flew. Nico directed him to do it again and again until they had a pit six feet deep, six feet wide and ten feet long.

“I’ve only done this once,” he warned them all, “and that time I didn’t exactly get the person I was trying to summon.”

“If you were meant to do this, if this was meant to help us, then you’ll get exactly who we need,” Percy assured him.

“I need some stuff. Can one of you make a shadow?” They all shone their flashlights on Tyson and watched him sink into it, only to emerge less than ten minutes later.

“That was fast,” Annabeth remarked, impressed.

Nico touched the headphones. “Thank Solace.” He didn’t even look tired. Internally, Percy felt a stab of jealousy. Months of trying to take care of Nico by feeding him vitamins – crushed into his food – and being supportive of his sleep schedule in order not to stress him out and all Will Solace had to do is give him a pair of magic Beats by Dr. Apollo to fix things?

Nico set candles out in a complex pattern at the bottom of the pit, scattered marigold petals and then laid down and offering: five Big Macs and a Liter of coke. At Grover’s questioning look, he shrugged, explaining, “Wine would be better, or even fresh blood. But I’m a minor and I’m not into killing animals.”

He then closed his eyes and began chanting, first in French, then in Ancient Greek.

The candles burned low.

After three hours, Tyson was falling asleep. Annabeth was struggling to stay awake, too. Nico stopped his chanting every half hour and sprinkled oil over the ground, then started again. He was growing frustrated, but thankfully his health was holding out. Percy wanted to ask him to stop, but on the eighth chant the ground began to shift and break open. Nico shuffled back to the foot of the pit and fell into a respectful stance, waiting. Purple smoke emanated from the fissures, along with a decaying smell. Something began to form from the smoke and they all held their breath.

A hand reached out for a burger and settled blissfully in the center of the pit, attaching itself to the vaporlike body of a man wearing ancient Greek robes.

“Mmmy goodness,” it moaned, “Your century is infinitely blessed with delicious – “

“It’s peasant food,” Nico snarled. “I didn’t summon _you_.”

“Didn’t your tutors teach you to respect the dead you raise, Son of Hades?” the ghost snapped back. “I know full well who you meant to have an audience with.” He pulled the soda bottle to his lips and gulped half of it down. “How delightful that my tradition has carried on,” he continued, looking around at all of them.

“We came here of our own volition,” Annabeth said.

“Then you are stupider than you look,” he sneered.

“Minos,” Nico threatened, “I’ll cut off the spell binding you here. Your descent back into the underworld will be painful.”

“It’ll be worth it,” the ancient king replied. “I’m not obligated to help little bastards such as yourselves. You should have called Ariadne for that.” He tossed his head arrogantly and slowly dissolved into vapor.

Nico snuffed the candles with a flick of his wrist and a few words of ancient Greek. The eerie fog that had settled over the cavern lifted.

“It was a nice try,” Annabeth said gently.

“But not good enough,” Nico muttered. “Now what?”

“Now you go back to camp, as promised.”

“But - ”

“Ariadne!” Annabeth said suddenly, and they all jumped. “Nico, you did help. We might not be able to summon Ariadne or Theseus, but maybe they left clues.”

Nico frowned and looked like he was about to start and argument, so Percy jumped down into the pit with him. “One thing about quests is that they aren’t always straightforward. You’ve done everything you can. Go back to camp.”

“You can’t tell me what to do!”

“I miss you, too, Nico,” Percy confessed.

Nico blushed. “I don’t miss you!”

Percy ignored him. “I’d rather be far away from camp, someplace quiet with a diner across the street. But I have to do this now, to protect you. I promise I’ll come back as soon as I can.”

“In your note, you said if anything bad happened to you – “

“Don’t think about that,” Percy insisted. “Think about where you want to go when this is over. Think about how at night, I’ll hold you, and –“

“ _Shut up_!” Nico groaned, his cheeks red. “Fine! I’ll go back to camp!” He sank into the shadow of the pit cast by Annabeth and Grover’s flashlights.

Annabeth was staring at Percy with a curious expression, but before she could voice what was on her mind, Grover pointed his beam of light to one of the tunnels. “Where’s Tyson?”

* * *

 

For the first time in months, all thoughts of Nico fled Percy’s mind. His only thought was finding his brother. He wanted to split up, but Annabeth calmed him down enough that he remembered that the maze was organic. If they did that, they would all be lost. Grover quickly packed up all of their stuff, including the huge bag of snacks Nico had brought back with him before starting the ritual. Tyson’s things were gone, which reassured Percy somewhat. If he had his things with him, it was because he’d chosen to go off on his own. Of the eight pathways available to them, Annabeth ruled out five because they were too small for him to fit through. One was barely big enough for her to crawl three feet into. That left three.

“What now? There’s no way of knowing if this place will still be here if we try doubling back.”

“I have an idea,” Annabeth announced, and Percy was glad to see that she seemed relieved that she could still think straight. “I’m going to go down this tunnel,” she pointed. “Don’t stop talking to me. If I see any clues that he might have gone down this way, you can join me. Otherwise, I’ll come back.”

“Okay.” Percy wasn’t too pleased with the plan, but it was the best they had and he was sure the maze wasn’t sentient enough to purposely ruin it.

Annabeth kept one hand to the wall of the tunnel and pointed her flashlight straight ahead. As she walked, she started telling Percy all about what he’d missed since being on the road with Nico. Finally, when her voice was so far off that he had to lean inside and shout, she started coming back.

“No sign of anything being through there in a long time,” she panted.

“My turn,” Grover stepped up to the next tunnel. Percy and Annabeth shone their flashlights in to give him extra light for a while, then took turns shouting at him. Less than ten minutes in, Grover stopped responding. Percy and Annabeth debated going in after him, but ultimately decided to take the last tunnel together. Percy kept walking forward, barely registering Annabeth’s voice chanting over and over again “This is my fault… my fault…”

“No,” he said sharply. “Everything is going to be fine. Right now our priority is to get to Daedalus before Luke does.”

* * *

 

Annabeth shook Percy awake from his next sleep. “We have to run! The tunnel is going to collapse!” she shouted. All around them, the stone rumbled. Concrete dust fell from the ceiling. They ran unsteadily. Percy wasn’t sure which way was up. They fell more than once and eventually cut a corner and started running down a steep flight of long stone steps, only to come to a dead end.

Annabeth slumped against the wall. “I thought I’d be so good at leading a quest. I’m going to get us killed.”

Percy sat down beside her. He wanted to cheer her up, but no matter where he looked, their prospects seemed grim.

They must have sat there for hours, because He dozed off again. When he woke up, Annabeth’s head was on his shoulder. Her cheeks were stained with tear tracks and their hands were loosely clasped together. Percy stared, wondering how it had happened. Carefully, he relaxed his grip, letting go of her. She stirred.

“Do you ever think about me?” she whispered.

“Sometimes,” he admitted, but he knew as well as she did that the time to develop that relationship had passed.

“For you there’s only Nico,” she sat up straighter and started combing her fingers through her hair, undoing and redoing her ponytail.

Percy didn’t answer, but she was mostly right. _How fucked up is that?_ He cared about Nico. He sort of loved him.

They ate as little as they could stand and kept going, replacing their flashlight batteries as they went. Percy lost track of time. He was sure they missed their next sleep, but didn’t say anything. Annabeth was determined to see the mission through.

“…get to Daedalus before Luke,” she chanted under her breath when she thought he wasn’t paying attention.

Percy wasn’t very good at reading people’s emotions, but as her determination was tested, hour after hour, it was obvious that Annabeth was hurting, and not just physically. He pulled her into a narrow tunnel and rolled out their thin sleeping mats, one atop the other and coaxed her to rest. “I’ll take first watch,” he insisted. “You need it more than I do,” he added when she tried to protest. While she slept, Percy felt his thoughts wandering to Nico.

 _You were gone for_ three _days! What was I supposed to –_

He smiled faintly. Despite the younger demigod’s grudge, Percy was getting through to him. He wasn’t sure if it was healthy for Nico to have that kind of dependence on him, but secretly he relished it. Being away from his family and his friends was hard, so he threw all of himself into taking care of Nico and making sure he was safe and provided for. He just wished that he could make Nico happy.

 _I’ll work on that once this quest is over_ , he decided.

* * *

 

Annabeth woke up refreshed. Percy almost didn’t want to take his turn sleeping. She rolled her eyes at him and looked so much like her old self that he was sure she had a plan. When he woke up, she handed him the last of their food supply and nodded.

“It’s Rachel,” she murmured excitedly. “She’s been trying for the past couple of days to get through to us. She contacted me in my dream.”

“She can do that?”

“She’s an oracle,” Annabth reminded him. “She had to tax her spiritual energy to manage it, but she’ll be fine. Her body is back at camp.”

They made four right turns. Percy stopped. “Shouldn’t we be right back where we started?”

Annabeth grinned. “I was going about this too logically.”

“Okay, so? We’re supposed to throw logic out the window?”

“Not entirely.” She pointed behind them. “I’ve been keeping a compass in my head this whole time. That should be west. But it’s not. Think about it. If we made four right turns and we’re not back where we started and not heading east…?”

“We’re heading north and should be going that way?” Percy guessed, pointing down one of a number of tunnels that seemed to be branching off diagonally from their path.

“Exactly.”

“But that doesn’t even make sense.”

“Exactly,” Annabeth repeated. “See how that set of tunnels looks newer compared to the one we’re on now? Or even the one where we lost the others?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Logically, I thought the maze should have architecturally progressed back in time from its origin point. But what if it progressed forward in time? If Daedalus is still alive…”

“…he would have kept branching out,” Percy understood at once.

Annabeth gaped.

“What? I’m not as much of a Seaweed Brain as you – “

“Your wrist!” Annabeth cried out, pointing. Wrapped around his left wrist was a thin red thread. It looped around a trailed off, gradually dissolving into the air. “It’s our way out of here! Remember Theseus. Who were you thinking of just now?” she demanded. “You have to hold on.” she put her hand over her heart. “As long as you keep it steady, we should be able to get out of here as soon as we deal with this.”

Nico. It hit Percy suddenly. He’d been thinking of Nico. He was so relieved that they were finally heading in the right direction all he could think of was getting back to Nico. The thread pulsed brighter red.

“I’m going to save you,” Annabeth whispered. She blushed when she noticed that Percy was paying attention to her.

“Annabeth, who – “ but he didn’t have to ask. “This is about Luke, isn’t it?”

Her eyes watered. “I love him,” she answered. “And I hate him. Do you have any idea how hard that is?”

Percy put a hand awkwardly on her shoulder. “Let’s keep moving.”

Less than twenty minutes later they came to a sharp turn in the path. All along the walls pale blue symbols lit up the walls. Annabeth touched one and it pulsed.

“Daedalus,” she confirmed.

Everything closed in around them and it was just one long corridor, gradually inclining up and up toward a steel door. Annabeth ran to it, nearly colliding with it, and tugged hard, grunting in satisfaction as it gave way, hissing as it parted from its seal. Percy helped her throw it open but had to shield his eyes from the bright florescent light.

Annabeth screamed.

“We’re too late!”

The workshop was in ruins, shelves knocked over, blueprints ripped to shreds, monitors eerily displaying abstract images over and over. In the middle of it all was a body. Percy could tell it wasn’t completely human. From its chest, wires bloomed outward, the skin tightly ripped over a bronze skeleton. He knew the blade that had done it, but dared not say it aloud.

* * *

 

After they spent the next hour raiding the area for anything useful, they decided that there was no way to tell if Luke had gotten away with the information he needed.

The red thread around his wrist was more solid now, and the other end wove through the mess and floated skyward.

“How are we supposed to get up there?” he wondered aloud.

The skylight was directly over them, and it was strange to realize that they weren’t as far underground as he’d originally thought. Still, there was nothing salvageable in the workshop that they might use to climb up.

“We could fly,” Annabeth suggested, coming out of a small storage room off to the side – mercifully untouched. In her arms she carried a pair of harnesses dripping with shimmering feathers.

“No way,” Percy breathed, reaching out to touch them. The feathers responded to his touch, faintly humming. He helped her put hers on first and then stepped into the other harness. As miraculous as it was, it was hard work getting off the ground, and then maneuvering them. Annabeth didn’t make it any easier, yelling instructions even though Percy doubted she knew what she was doing. Still, he let her boss him around a bit. It had taken a while to get over the shock of seeing one of her siblings dead, and her anger with herself over not getting to him in time was mounting. She got up high enough first, hanging onto the window latch with all of the strength she had left. She tugged at it, and the whole ceiling rumbled.

“What was that?” he shouted up at her, but she ignored him and continued to pull. Bits of concrete broke off and fell from the ceiling. Percy hovered under Annabeth anxiously, unable to muster the strength to help her pull.

And then, quite suddenly, the glass broke. A huge shard sliced at Annabeth’s hand and another cut open Percy’s chin. _This is it_ , he thought as he felt himself lose altitude, _I’m going to die and Nico will be the child of the prophecy. I’ve failed all of my promises to him._ But then a pair of hands grabbed at him. Two hands. Eight. Ten. As he was lifted to the surface he heard someone call out “Brother!” and then he passed out.

* * *

 

When he came to, he took in a great lungful of air and sat up. Annabeth was at his side in an instant, and so was Tyson. But what surprised him the most was the sight of Grover, crowned with a wreath of flowers. Standing behind him, nearly twice the size of a normal satyr, was a strong, dark skinned god with eyes as blue and clear as the sky in spring. His scent of wildflowers and freshness came over Percy in waves and he felt the cut on his chin healing. The satyr’s hors were magnificent, and in his coarse hair a delicate spray of flowers danced.

“It’s Pan!” Grover exclaimed.

Percy couldn’t believe it. Tyson helped him to his feet and they were whisked away. The shimmering feathers blew away, leaving the harness bare, but they were really flying now, Pan dancing around them and keeping them up with his spirit. Tyson held hands with the hundred-handed monster that had pulled them out of the maze. Percy looked over his shoulder as they drifted and caught sight of a massive sink hole.

Annabeth reached out and took his hand and they all landed safely at the camp border.

“I have to go,” Grover explained. “I’m not sure what will happen next with Luke, but Pan has chosen me to help him in our fight.” He hugged them all fiercely and was gone again in another bounding leap of breeze.

Annabeth hadn’t let go of his hand. “We have to figure out where Luke is now,” she said, pulling him toward camp. He stopped.

“No.” Even Tyson stared at him. “I need to go back to Nico. He’s in even more danger now.”

“He’ll be fine at camp. Or we’ll take him with us.”

“No,” he said again, more sure of himself. “Things aren’t going the way they’re supposed to. I’m afraid. I feel like no matter how much I want to take the burden on myself, it’s going to be his. I have to protect him. And I can’t do it like this.”

“So what, you’re just going to keep moving around? A road trip is your way of keeping him from his destiny?”

“I – “

“Stay with us, Percy.”

He opened his mouth to protest again, even though he was unsure of how he was going to win the argument. Nico emerged from behind her and ran straight at him.

“You asshole!” he screamed. “You were gone a whole week!” Percy was too weak to fight him, so he took the punches, falling to his knees.

“I’m sorry,” he managed between exaggerated breaths.

“You’re injured,” Nico said. He hesitated, then helped him to his feet. His face was red and despite whatever Will Solace had done, it didn’t look like he’d slept in the last three days. Since he’d been forced to come back to camp. “You need medical attention.”

“I just need you,” Percy assured him.

Nico shoved him away. “You need medical attention,” he repeated.

“I just need some food and water. Then we can leave.”

Nico looked relieved, but Annabeth was still stone faced. “We need you here,” she insisted. “Even Nico has to see that.”

“I’m standing right here,” Nico fumed. “And I’m leaving tonight. With or without him.” He turned on his heel but Percy snagged him.

“I’m coming with you,” he repeated the words that started everything. “Just give me a couple of hours.”

* * *

 

“You could have stayed. Should have,” Nico said that night as they boarded a bus headed south.

“My place is with you.”

“Whatever,” Nico muttered, taking the window seat and curling up against it. Percy was still fatigued from the quest, but he’d gotten some nectar and ambrosia in him and after a shower, felt at least 80% better. All he needed was a full night’s rest on a real bed. Tyson has left almost immediately, having his own new quest to fulfill. Whatever Luke’s plans were now, Percy felt certain – to a frightening degree – that they had been set back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter might be the longest I've ever written. Like, I've written oneshots that were this length.
> 
> I really didn't want to write these past two chapters because I didn't want to have to go back and reference any other books aside from The Titan's Curse. Anyway. In the next chapter I'll finally be able to write about Nico and Percy's adventures as 'hunters'!


	5. Who You Gonna Call?

_August – December 2009_

* * *

 

Nico woke up curled up in the middle of the bed wrapped in the good blanket. The cheap polyester one was on the floor. Percy was tangled in the sheets, laying on his stomach at the foot of the bed. Nico kicked at him.

“I want breakfast.”

Percy groaned and rolled over, stretching so that his torso curved over the edge of the bed. His pajama shirt rode up and Nico had to look away. He fumbled with his headphones to distract himself, smiling faintly at the memory of the good dream he’d had. The soundwaves were meant to mimic whatever sound he found the most soothing, so every night they played the soft music of the ocean: waves breaking on the shore, the deep sounds of the tides shifting. More often than not he dreamt of Percy.

“What do you want to eat?” Percy yawned.

“I don’t care.” He kicked the blanket away and went into the bathroom, resisting the urge to slam the door. He ran the tap and started washing up, frustrated. His member, soft but flushed, throbbed between his legs. A keening sound escaped his throat. It didn’t happen every morning, but it was becoming more and more frequent. And it was worse when he looked at Percy. He sat on the edge of the tub and spread his legs, frowning down at his lap. Experimentally, he cupped his palm over his crouch. The next moment, he had to clap the other one over his mouth. He breathed hard.

Maybe he was sick.

He splashed more cold water over his face and waited until it subsided. Should he tell Percy? It was embarrassing to think about, but maybe it was serious.

When he came out, Percy was making the bed. One thing was for certain. They couldn’t sleep together anymore. For weeks after he came out of the labyrinth, Percy was more protective of him. At night, he held him as closely as he could get away with.

“There’s a diner across the street,” Percy was saying.

“That’s fine.”

Percy took his turn in the bathroom and Nico changed into his clothes. His wardrobe was small, all of it secondhand. Percy only bought his underwear and socks new. He blushed. Maybe he should do his own shopping from now on. The bomber jacket was getting too small. He would hate to leave it behind. At least the skull ring would always fit. He twisted it absently, wishing that he could talk to Bianca about his problems. They ate in relative silence at the diner, Percy grumbling under his breath about the pancakes being the wrong color.

Percy’s birthday was coming up. Less than a week. The year before, Nico managed to bake a blue cake. It had taken him five tries and he would have given up if the sixth hadn’t been passable. His fingers had been stained for weeks afterward, but Percy had been happy – really happy – for once. He knew it was hard for the older boy. He had friends and family. Once a month he called his mom to check in, and when he remembered and could spare a drachma, he checked in at camp. He told no one where they were, just said that they were fine.

After breakfast, they went back to the motel and packed. It was rare for them to stay in one place for more than four days at a time. At the very least, they went to the next nearest town or city. Shadow travel got them around pretty fast, but Nico couldn’t do very long jumps. Mostly they took buses and lied to anyone that asked that they were on their way to their grandmother’s or the parent that had custody that week.

Now, he knew why they couldn’t stay in one place for too long. Reluctantly, but unwilling to break his promise about being honest, Percy told him about the other prophecy. The one that was giving him nightmares. “It’s only going to get worse as you get older,” Percy explained. “Your powers are getting stronger.” Nico could feel it. It was so much easier to shadow travel,  but Percy warned him that that was exactly the surge of power a monster would be attracted to. He spent one weekend hiding in a used car lot at night, practicing how to hotwire them in case they needed to save money although Nico suspected it was also because he really wanted to drive.

Two days before Percy’s sixteenth Birthday they ditched the motel they’d been staying at – by far the shittiest: Percy had to risk a little by pulling water out of the pipes, the TV didn’t work, and the carpet smelled like dog piss. Percy’s practice paid off; they were able to take a second hand Toyota easily, driving it as far as a full tank of gas would take them. Nico was surprised both at how well Percy drove, and the fact that they didn’t get pulled over for driving so slowly.

“I’m using mist,” Percy explained after they’d dumped the car at another used car dealership. “I’ve only seen Thalia use it, and no one ever explained to me how it’s done, but I think I’ve figured it out.”

“Will you teach me?”

“I don’t know if _teach_ is the right word, but I’ll tell you how I figured it out and how I think it works.”

They took a bus and checked into a bed and breakfast, a quaint little place converted from a mansion by a creek in a slowly growing university town. After Percy fell asleep, Nico snuck out and found a grocery store that was opened until late. He knew Percy would be angry and worried if he knew what he was doing, but it didn’t matter. He rushed through the store, squinting irritably at the florescent lighting. He’d already checked with the B&B people and they’d assured him that he could use the kitchen. So all he needed was the ingredients. He snuck back to the room long enough to make sure Percy hadn’t noticed he’d been gone – thankfully the driving knocked him out. “I’m going to do some laundry.” He took an armful of his clothes and went downstairs. He threw it into the machine and then went to work in the kitchen. The hardest part was getting the batter mixed evenly. He’d grabbed a pair of rubber gloves from the grocer, too. There was no way Percy would suspect that he was getting a blue cake for a second year in a row.

That cake turned out almost perfectly. For testing, Nico had been making small batches of cupcakes. On that morning’s, the color had been consistent, and the taste was okay. He wrote down the changed he’d made from last year’s final batch in a pocket notebook he carried. All he had to do was think of something to distract Percy the next morning so that he could bake.

“Shouldn’t you go clothes shopping?” he suggested later, after they came back from eating. “I think you need new shoes.”

Percy inspected his feet. “Nah. I’m good for another month or so.”

Nico huffed impatiently. “I really think you should. There’s a shopping mall here. A good one. We’re not always within walking distance of one.”

Percy tilted his head. “Okay… I guess. What about you?”

“I don’t need anything,” Nico insisted, too quickly.

Percy grinned. “So what’ll you be doing while I’m out?”

“I’ll probably just… catch up on sleep,” Nico supplied.

Percy nodded. “Okay, then. I’ll get some fresh supplies, too.”

“Good.” He turned away, flustered. Percy was dense, but not stupid. He probably suspected that Nico was preparing a surprise for him. It wouldn’t be entirely ruined if Nico did his best on it, so as soon as Percy set out for his excursion, Nico rushed to the kitchen and prepared a new batch using the notes he’d taken the day before. He poured most of it into three small cake pans, but he reserved a bit and made a batch of cupcakes. When they came out he set the pan in the farm sink, filled with ice water to chill them faster, and started making the icing. The cupcakes turned out perfectly, so he iced them first and sprinkled them with blue sprinkles that sparkled and set them out in the common area with a note:

_Guests of the Bear Creek Inn Bed and Breakfast, please join us in celebrating the sixteenth birthday of P. J. Enjoy a blue cupcake, compliments of_

he hesitated on weather to write _his family_ or _his friends_. Neither were entirely true, neither were a lie.

_compliments of N.D._

he finished, satisfied.

* * *

 

The cupcakes were gone before Percy got back, and the cake was ready to be decorated. The icing was something to be proud of, blue buttercream. Three layers, but he’d used small pans so it was only big enough for two.

He put it on a rolling cart with blue candles on top.

The loss of Bianca still hurt, and he wasn’t sure he could ever forgive Percy for it. But Percy had made a sacrifice. He might not see it the way Nico did, but as far as he was concerned, Percy had _already_ made a life or death choice.

Once he was sure Percy was back in the room, he rolled the cart into the hall, candles lit, and knocked on the door. The look on Percy’s face was priceless, especially once Nico started to sing. He rolled his eyes. “Wish won’t come true unless we sing the song,” he intoned, actually holding back laughter. Percy blew the candles out and they ate two huge slices each. Most of their money came from Sally, so they called to let thank her and let her know that they were fine. Percy bragged about Nico’s baking skills, saying that having a proper blue cake made him feel like he was back at home. There wasn’t much to do, but there was a movie theater in the shopping district where Percy had been earlier, so they went. Percy picked something that was obviously part of a series that neither of them had a clue about, but it was fun. When they got back to their room, they went through the shopping bags. Not only had Percy bought new shoes and jeans for himself, he’d bought a new duffel bag for Nico because the old one was wearing thin. He’d also bought new toothbrushes and shampoo.

“I didn’t get you a present,” Nico complained. He’d used all the spending money he had on the baking supplies.

“You made me a cake,” Percy argued. “I don’t care about anything else.”

Nico drowned the butterflies in his stomach with a can of soda and then fussed with the TV, settling on something about ghost hunting, from what he could tell. He only barely registered what was happening on the screen, curious about what Percy had wished for and if it had anything to do with the prophecy. The thing down in the maze – the automatron, as Annabeth had called it – they might have stopped part of the plan, but there was something bigger at play. Something that would intersect with Nico in four years. He wasn’t afraid; it seemed so far off. He was uneasy, though. Aside from knowing how to shadow travel, which was really only a way of escaping problems, he didn’t know how to fight. The sword he pulled out of the shadows in the labyrinth hadn’t manifested itself since, although he could feel it, just out of reach. That was something Percy could teach him. He’d seen him with Riptide. The butterflies resurfaced and he chugged the rest of his drink straight down.

In his own bed – thankfully they’d gotten separate sleeping arrangements – Percy flipped a dracma idly, catching it and flipping it again and again. “We should go to the beach,” he suggested. “I haven’t seen the ocean in a while.”

“It’s your pick next,” Nico shrugged. “I’m going to sleep.”

* * *

 

They woke up to screams.

In the hallway, there was a huge commotion. Percy made Nico stay in the room while he went to investigate. Outside, a single police car shone red and blue lights in the windows.

“A guest down the hall is saying that someone broke into her room. We have to go out in the hall.” He took Nico by the hand and calmly explained to the officer that they’d been asleep when they heard the screaming. On their way back to their room, they passed the open door of the crime scene. Nico inhaled sharply and tugged on Percy’s arm. “There’s something there!” he hissed.

“In the room?”

Nico nodded. He waited until their door was closed behind them before explaining. “Marie Laveau taught me how to recognize signs of ghostly presence, but me being who I am, I can sense it anywhere.”

Percy;s eyes grew wide. “A ghost? You’re sure.”

“And it doesn’t feel benevolent,” Nico warned.

“Then we need to leave, first thing,” Percy decided.

Nico hesitated. “No,” he said finally.

“If it feels your energy, it’ll come after you.”

“I know.”

“We don’t fight ghosts!”

“But neither do they,” he gestured outside, to where they could still hear the other guests  conversing in panicked tones.

“I’m pretty sure you’re in more danger than them.”

“Still. I have a responsibility to put its soul to rest.”

He remembered earlier that year, when they’d spent almost two weeks near the ocean because of an oil spill. Nico had to be alone for most of the day while Percy  helped as many animals as he could and argue with minor ocean gods about how best to clean the water. He almost brought it up, but Percy read his mind. “Okay. I get it.”

Nico relaxed, but only for a second. “I don’t actually know how to go about this. Marie Laveau only told me that a soul needs to be purified if its still _attached_.”

“Well, then we need to research,” Percy reasoned. “We’ll find the public library in the morning. In the meantime, is there anything we can do to make it through the night undisturbed?”

“I can put up a ward. It doesn’t take much power.” He pulled a piece of charcoal out of his duffel and drew it on the door, then pressed his palm to it. It glowed faintly purple. They woke up earlier than normal and found out that the public library wasn’t far from the inn. There was a fountain on the way, and Percy made a quick call to camp to check in and ask if anyone knew anything about purification.

“Salt,” was Annabeth’s immediate answer.

“So we should just throw salt at it?” Nico deadpanned.

“Maybe?”

They went to the library anyway. When their four hour search turned up agreeing with her, they tried other searches. Salt seemed to be only a temporary fix. It was around the time they started getting hungry that Nico remembered something.

“The remains!” he nearly shouted, pushing away the huge stack of books they’d acquired at their table. “I forgot! Marie Laveau said that sometimes a ghost will be attached and act malevolent because their remains were improperly handled. Burial practice was part of my training, too.”

“Well, that makes it harder,” Percy groaned. “Now we have to find out who the ghost is and find out if that applies to them. And if it doesn’t – “

“We’ll worry about that later. Can we eat first?”

* * *

 

They ate pizza and then discussed how they would find out the identity of the ghost.

“You could summon it?” Percy suggested.

“Probably not a good idea. It’s not benevolent and our only defense is salt.”

Before they went to bed – the sigil was redrawn on the door – Percy had a thought. “I could investigate. Ghosts haunt places where they died, so I could ask the owners.”

“You’d have to use mist,” Nico added. “They won’t take a 16 year old asking them questions very seriously. I can tell they already think we’re runaways or something.”

Percy nodded, getting excited. “It would be difficult, but if I can pull it off… I’ll make myself look a little older. That shouldn’t be too hard.” He spent the next couple of hours watching paranormal investigations shows – “Method acting research,” he winked. Nico rolled his eyes and kept to his side of the room. He’d tried the deception before, after Percy gave him yet another rudimentary explanation. Either the clerk at the gas station had been stupid, or it had actually worked. He idly tapped his prize – a heavy, good quality zippo lighter – against his palm, reciting the incantations Marie Laveau had taught him. He had the feeling that he was missing something. He flicked the lighter open and lit the flame.

Of course. Fire was equally as powerful for purification, and it was permanent.

* * *

 

Percy didn’t look any different to Nico, but he carried himself a little differently. Nico felt compelled to voice how ridiculous it looked, but Percy only laughed. Surprisingly, his voice actually sounded different.

“Okay. Wait here. I’m going to question the owners and then the victim.”

It was unfair that Percy was getting to do the investigative work, but the salient point was that Nico would be fulfilling his duties as a son of Hades.

Because the questioning took over an hour, he decided it would be a good idea to take a nap. He put the headphones over his ears and grabbed Percy’s pillow. It smelled like him, like sea spray and the cheap shampoo they both used. Nico pulled it to his chest and fell asleep.

When he woke up, Percy was sitting on the other bed, smiling softly at him. In a panic, Nico chucked the pillow at his face, blushing.

“Were you watching me sleep?!”

“I like to see you so peaceful,” Percy shrugged, fluffing the pillow and setting it back on his bed. “Did you get enough rest?”

“Yeah… did you find out who the ghost is?”

Percy leaned forward, elbows on knees. “So get this,” he began, clearly pleased with himself, “Before this place was a bed and breakfast, it was a mansion. It was the biggest in the city, and the original owner used to charge people to come over the creek on his bridge.”

“So…?”

“People refused to pay. He got angry. Then one day there was a fire. The firemen wouldn’t cross the creek to put it out until he promised never to charge anyone again. He held a grudge until the end of his days,” he finished, ominously.

“Nice story. Now who’s the ghost?”

“I told you.”

“The original owner? But that doesn’t make sense. Everyone who stays here pays.”

Percy’s face lit up. “But the victim is staying here for free.”

“How did that happen?”

“She was part of a wedding party here a few months ago, and there was a complication with her room, so the owners gave her a gift certificate. She’s here on a romantic weekend with her boyfriend. Rumor has it that they threatened to leave a bad review if they weren’t treated like important guests.”

“That might make a ghost angry. Especially a misery one. Do you know where he was buried?”

Percy looked confused. “Why would we need to know that?”

“We have to purify the remains.”

“…we’re going to dig up a grave,” Percy said flatly.

“You don’t have to help.”

Percy groaned and fell back onto his bed. “Fine. We’re going to dig up a grave. I’m only doing this because – “ he sat up. “We’re going to need shovels.”

* * *

 

Nico rose the entire casket from the grave himself. It drained him, but Percy was impressed, so he set to work drawing the right sigils on the skull and on the headstone as though it hadn’t fazed him in the least.

“Nico! You’re so cool!” Percy breathed when the sigils began to glow. Nico pushed down the fluttering in his stomach and held out his hand. “Salt,” he commanded.

Percy fumbled for it, handing it over with a look of pride on his face that Nico couldn’t helping smiling at in response. He ripped open the spout of the container. A strong force flung them both away from the casket.

“The ghost!” Percy sprang to his feet and summoned Riptide. The celestial bronze went through without doing any damage. The ghost didn’t even acknowledge Percy, instead coming toward Nico. “You have the power to raise me from the dead,” it whispered. “Help me.”

Nico backed away and at the same time threw his arm out in an arc. Salt flew out of the container, burning on contact with the milky plasma. The ghost wailed, but didn’t disappear. Nico snapped the spout closed and threw it at Percy. “Salt the remains while I keep him distracted!”

Percy looked ready to protest, but he thought better of it and ran back to the open casket. Nico stood up and put his hands out in front of him and began to chant the incantation. The ghost puttered and ripped in and out of focus, fighting it. Nico was starting to feel fatigued. The ghost broke free of the incantation’s hold and lunged at him. On instinct, Nico threw himself to the shadows, but instead of falling into comfortable darkness, his hand closed over the handle of the sword. He pulled it up and slashed out. When it made contact, the plasma hissed and burned, stronger than what the salt had done.

“Awesome!” Percy cried.

Nico threw the lighter at him. “Burn it!”

The fire died down naturally. Nico leaned against the back of another headstone, close to passing out. The sword was still in his hand.

“So what’s that even made of?” Percy asked.

“Stygian Iron.”

Percy lifted him up onto his back. “You were a real hero tonight.”

* * *

 

They followed the same formula less than a month later when Nico felt something else around the school across the street from the house where they squatted mid-August. And then again in October. Thankfully, it got easier. Percy was so successful with the mist that when they boarded a bus in early November, he amused himself by telling all of the other passengers that Nico was his son. Nico was convinced that he was also using it on him, because everyone called him “adorable and treated him like a baby. Percy thought it was hilarious.

They checked into a motel that was cleaner than they were used to right outside of Las Vegas. “We can go somewhere else,” Percy assured him.

“It’s fine. I didn’t know what was going on, so I actually have some good memories. At night the strip is really beautiful. We’d turn out the lights in the room and look out the window.”

Percy didn’t say anything for a long moment, but then he picked up his things. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

Percy didn’t answer, but Nico knew. An hour later, they were settling into the nicest hotel room they’d ever been in. Nico felt bad about the money until Percy explained that the money that came from Sally was on a debit card that she’d been putting extra money into since Percy was a baby. It wasn’t a lot, but Percy had been depending on the money he made working small jobs wherever they squatted for long enough.

“If it makes you feel any better, we’re going to be sleeping in really shitty motels for a long time. And no trains.”

He went down to the restaurant in the hotel and brought up a pizza. Nico didn’t dare say so, but it was one of the happiest moments of his life, eating pizza and watching the lights on the strip. They only stayed that night, then went back to a smaller motel. Percy tried to check in with Annabeth the day before Thanksgiving, but people in the Athena cabin said she was on another quest with Clarisse and Tyson.

“…you could go,” Nico said.

“This isn’t our fight. Not yet.”

Nico put his headphones on and curled under the blankets. He wasn’t sure how he felt about Percy ignoring everyone else to stay with him. He wanted to feel happy, but he knew it was eating him up inside. His sleep was restless. When he woke up, Percy was watching the news intently.

“What’s going on?” Nico yawned.

“I think we may have a problem,” Percy pointed to a corner of the screen.

The local news was running a story about a man attacked by a huge bird. They were speculating that it could be a turkey vulture, but Nico understood Percy’s unease.

“That’s no vulture.”

“It’s an Erinyes, one of the three furies,” Percy explained. “Creatures that feed on vengeance. I’ve dealt with them before.”

“Why would it kill a mortal?”

Percy snapped the TV off. “We’re in Vegas. It’s called Sin City for a reason. The furies feed on feelings of vengeance.”

Nico reached for his shoes. “We’d better get moving, then.”

Percy blinked at him. “What?”

“You’ve helped me every time I wanted to play ghost hunter. You can’t go help your friends because you’re stuck here with me. So if you want to go kill some furies because it’ll make you feel like you’re doing something.”

Nico had been practicing his mist enough so that he could pull off appearing like Percy’s assistant. They went down to the morgue and confirmed that it was a fury attack. Percy got the victims information and did some investigative work to find out who he would have wanted to enact vengeance on.

“So all we know so far about this guy is that he works at a 24 hour wedding chapel and has no family. What does he do in his spare time?” Nico took a huge bite of his sandwich.

“Again. We’re in Vegas. He probably gambles.”

“So let’s do some digging and see which casino was his favorite.”

They left the diner and headed for the apartment that had belonged to the victim. It actually wasn’t that far from their motel, but it was much dirtier. Percy convinced the landlord that they were with the guy’s lawyer. He didn’t have a lot of things, but stuffed in a junk drawer they found a lot of receipts from a casino a block from the wedding chapel he worked at.

“So how’s this going to work? Furies are monsters. It’s not likely that they have a pattern, or that they’ll strike again.”

“Whoever this guy was, he left residual feelings of revenge. We have to find out who he was angry with.”

They wandered around the casino, making themselves unnoticeable and invisible, slipping into the surveillance room before it closed in the early hours of the morning. “Get some rest,” Percy pushed one of the huge desk chairs at him. “I’ll look through the footage.”

“I’ll help.”

Once they figured out how to work the systems, the combed through the footage of the days leading up to the fury attack. They found that he spent a lot of time at the card tables, and lost a lot.

“There,” Nico pointed. “That guy is pretty much always at the table with him.”

“And he always wins,” Percy remarked. “Good detective work,” he winked. Nico blushed. “Now we get some sleep, and we  find that guy tomorrow.”

Nico allowed himself to be led back to their motel. He didn’t notice until Percy pulled away to search his pockets for the key that they’d been holding hands the whole walk back. He slept in longer than he intended. Percy had already been out and about, looking for the other man on the surveillance video.

“So get this,” he said, and Nico nearly punched him, annoyed. “The other guy worked with the victim at the wedding chapel. They were rivals in everything. Gambling. Promotions at work. They were constantly one upping each other. One month one guy was luckier, got all the breaks, the next… and so on.”

“So where’s the other guy now?”

“Rooftop wedding on the strip. We’ve got to stay close.”

* * *

 

The rooftop wedding was obviously not arranged by the tiny 24 hour chapel where both men worked. The food – Percy snuck a couple of plates – was really good, and they had a live band. “Let’s dance,” Percy said suddenly.

“What?”

“Our guy is on the dance floor. We need to be close.” He pulled Nico out with him. Luckily it was an uptempo song. A lot of people were dancing in groups. Percy wove them in and around. They smiled and laughed with others – no one asked them if they were on the bride’s or groom’s side. The wedding ended without incident, and their guy seemed to be part of the wedding party. He stuck around and started helping the band pack up.

“Maybe we should go, find him again tomorrow, or get a new lead,” Nico suggested. He was worn out.

“Nico, I’ve been using mist all night and a bit of my other gifts. They’re here.” He was suddenly serious.

It was eerily quiet when everyone had left. Then, a screech. Three huge winged shapes pelted down on them from the next rooftop. They each drew their swords and parried off the attacks. They mostly went after Percy, and soon it was too much. They got him on the defensive and knocked Riptide out of his hands.

The ugliest fury poised a talon over Percy’s neck. “Feed us your anger, Son of Hades,” it hissed. “Take your revenge!”

The cement under their feet rumbled.

“No!” Nico cried. The metal frame of the building ripped up and trapped each fury. Percy twisted in midair, rolled combat style and drew Riptide, slashing in a wide arc. They were both drenched in ichor. Nico turned and ran for the door leading to the stairwell, but Percy caught him.

“Are you alright?” he demanded.

“I’m fine.”

“Nico – “

“I considered it,” he said between clenched teeth. “For a second.”

Percy ignored him. “You’ll never forgive me, but you don’t want revenge.”

“If I wanted revenge, I wouldn’t have waited this long,” he protested darkly.

Percy smiled softly. “Let’s go get some rest.”

Nico stared at him, dumbfounded. “Are you even paying attention?”

“I’m impulsive,” Percy confessed. “I’ll admit that when I decided to run away with you I didn’t think it through. But I don’t regret it.” He wrenched open the door that lead down the stairs. “I could actually go for some ice cream or something before bed. You in?”

* * *

 

They went to visit Sally for a couple of days. She’d been so nice that it was hard for them to leave. They headed west and found a cabin to squat in.

“White Christmas,” Percy whistled.

“Close your eyes.”

Percy obeyed, smirking lightly. Nico took a minute to look at him like this. His heart tightened in his chest.

“Okay,” he exhaled, spreading his arms wide. “Open them.”

Percy looked confused for a minute, but stepped into the embrace. “A hug. Just what I wanted,” he laughed into Nico’s hair.

“It’s more than a hug,” Nico murmured. “It comes with my forgiveness.”

Percy’s hold on him grew tighter. “Nico,” he breathed. “Thank you. This is the best present ever.”

Nico pulled away. “Whatever.”

“No, really. It’s a lot better than what I got you.”

“What _did_ you get me?” he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Percy grinned and pulled a shoebox from his duffel bags.

“I noticed that you were growing out of yours.”

Nico took them gratefully. “This is why I forgive you. You take such good care of me.”

“Say that again,” Percy’s eyes shone.

“You take such good care of me,” Nico repeated in monotone.

“No, the other thing.”

Nico blushed hotly. “I forgive you.”

Percy hugged him again, briefly brushing his lips over the hollow of his cheek. He blushed harder and nearly dropped the shoebox. “Oh, shit. Sorry, Nico. I got carried away.”

“It’s Christmas,” Nico shrugged, letting the fluttering in his stomach be.

They went to a Denny’s down the road for dinner. Nico wore his new shoes and Percy was so pleased he urged him to drink as much hot chocolate as he wanted. That night, Percy fell asleep first. On his way back from the bathroom, Nico bent over him, returning the kiss from earlier. Percy stirred but didn’t wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bed and breakfast is a real place in my town and the story about the toll bridge is based on something I heard on the school bus as a kid. 
> 
> Percy and Nico went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for Percy's birthday.


	6. 101

_September 2010_

* * *

 

Nico’s stomach growled and Percy looked up from his book abruptly, grinning.

“I’m fine,” Nico assured him.

“You said that an hour ago.” He closed the book – titled Monsters of Greek Mythology – and set it atop the pile by his elbow. “I’m hungry, too.”

They’d been researching for the last few hours, trying to figure out what was disturbing the residents of a local ranch. Percy had ruled out ghosts – easiest to deal with – and vengeful nature spirits. Unfortunately, the local public library was sparse. It didn’t even offer high-speed internet. They went to the nearest diner and ordered up burgers and fries. Nico was barely able to hide the sound of satisfaction when he first bit into his burger. Percy smirked and Nico kicked him under the table.

In the booth next to them, an elderly couple was gossiping about the ranch they were investigating. Percy’s eyes widened and he gestured to Nico that they should listen without seeming suspicious. Nico grunted and focused on his meal, but his ears perked up when he heard the woman say “I hear the people down the road are having the same trouble. We should tell that journalist. He might want to interview them.”

A journalist was Percy’s cover this time, writing almanac type pieces on horse breeding.

Nico kicked him under the table again. “Hey, why don’t you stop talking to people and try the horses?”

* * *

 

“Taraxippus,” Percy confirmed. “I had a hunch, but horses at both ranches say the same thing. The other animals have been affected, but not as badly as them. Especially the ones being bred for racing.”

“Are they malevolent?”

“Not usually. They’re my dad’s creations, too, but more like first drafts.”

“Do you think they’re trying to communicate?”

“Most likely.”

They headed back to their motel. It wasn’t the cleanest they’d ever been in, but it wasn’t the worst, and they offered a decent continental breakfast. Nico took first shower, then Percy. Already they were falling into a pattern with the paranormal stuff. Mostly it was ghosts and poltergeists, but every now and then a case like this turned up. In Yosemite, they’d negotiated with some nymphs that were messing with hikers on Cloud’s Rest. They spent Percy’s seventeenth birthday in Florida and took down a kelpie in the everglades. Nico was good enough with mist now that they always went in as partners. Nico couldn’t see what Percy was projecting, and vice versa, but they generally didn’t try too hard; just kept it to where they looked ambiguously 20 something. Nico had to construct his new persona in his mind first, then let it flow through his blood. Sometimes, as he let it wash over him and felt it covering his true age and face, he wondered if he would grow up. Percy enjoyed what they were doing now, but Nico knew that as far sleep patterns went, their positions had changed. Percy was starting to develop dark circles under his eyes. It was hard to tell what was going on outside of them, but Nico was aware that he had a part to play, had a choice to make. Making the choice would determine his future. Did one exist where he actually _was_ that old?

The next day, they went back to the ranch. The owners weren’t home, but Nico kept watch.

About an hour later, Percy came back, out of breath. His face glistened with sweat. Nico ducked his head, blushing.

“Well?”

“Yeah. They’re… uh, not happy.”

“What do they want?”

“A race.”

“What.”

“They’re bored because the owners of both ranches have stopped entering their horses in the track. They want me to convince the owners to make some sort of tribute to my dad, and they want to race us.”

“Us?”

“Umm… yeah,” Percy rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry. They wouldn’t agree to stop terrorizing unless we both compete.”

“What if we lose?”

“I think they’d be happier if we did. They just want to feel the rush of competition again.”

“I’ve never ridden a horse.”

“Well, we’ve got until sundown to teach you, so come on.”

He led Nico back to the stables. Despite the situation, the horses seemed happy to see Percy. “Oh, shit,” Percy laughed. “I forgot I promised them some apples. I’ll be right back. Try to get comfortable around them.”

He sprinted toward the house.

There were ten horses, most of them tan colored. Nico knew nothing about horses. They were a lot bigger up close. Cautiously, he approached the smallest one, darker brown than the others with a white spot on its chest. He held out his hand, palm up. It nuzzled him lightly, gave a whiny. “Percy’s probably going to look like a hero riding one of you.” He blushed. “I’m going to fall off and break my neck. But I’d do anything for him.” The horse neighed loudly, stomping its feet. The other horses joined in, louder. Nico stepped back, startled.

“Hey, what did you say to them?” Percy asked, returning with an armful of apples.

“I’m not sure. Why are they so excited?”

Percy started handing out apples and murmuring softly. “They want to race. They know the owners will be selling them soon. They’re all friends and they won’t see each other again. So they want one last run together.” He nodded to the smallest horse. “That one seems keen to let you ride him. He says he likes you.”

Percy didn’t know how to saddle a horse, but the horses themselves knew and talked him through it. They must have teased him a lot, because Percy blushed a lot and talked back, but eventually he got the smallest horse saddled for Nico and one of the speckled ones for himself.

It was surprisingly easy to trust the horse.

“Now you’ve just got to get comfortable with it running at top speed,” Percy said cheerfully.

“This asshole,” Nico murmured. His horse whinnied in what he was sure was agreement.

“Now, about the tribute…” Percy wondered aloud.

* * *

 

The owners of the ranch had a small pond on the property. Percy worked on it until sundown, cleaning it, encouraging the small fish and waterfowl to convert to honoring Poseidon as their lord and savior, etc. He was dirty and exhausted when he was done, but they still had to race.

The Taraxippus met them at the edge of the property. There were four of them, made of bone and rotted flesh. Even though they were excited about the race, the horses became skittish immediately. Percy warned Nico’s horse not to drop him. Nico squeezed his thighs together and sent one prayer to his father.

Nico could tell how much Percy loved it, but to him it was a nightmare. Every few yards the Taraxippus darted across their path, but Percy positioned the riderless horses to block them. They dashed in and around their formations, cackling and neighing. They circled the stable and headed back to the edge of the property to end the race. Nico felt his grip failing. A Taraxippus darted at him and bit at his horse’s legs, making it keel back and up an it’s rear hooves. Nico hung on but he was practically thrown, left clinging to the right flank. His headphones fell off and were trampled under the feet of the other horses.

Percy dismounted recklessly as soon as they hit the fence and helped him off. “Are you okay?”

“Just spooked. Let’s never do that again.”

The Taraxippus loudly celebrated their victory and then sped off.

* * *

 

When Nico came out of the shower, hurriedly pulling his shirt over his head, Percy was spreading something out over his bed.

“I’ve been thinking that it was about time you had some information on this,” he explained, gesturing vaguely to the half dozen or so pamphlets. He headed for the bathroom, peeling off his own shirt. “A lot of them were mine, but I picked some up the other day in the pharmacy section of the Wal-Mart.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Nico picked one up titled **_What is Puberty?_** to distract himself. In the time that they’d been traveling and training, Percy had put on muscle. Nico knew that he wasn’t much to look at himself, and couldn’t decide if he was jealous or if looking at Percy’s body was uncomfortable because of his feelings toward the older boy. He picked up another pamphlet titled **_Sexual Identity_**.

“That one was mine,” Percy said, almost proudly. Like a few of the others it had frayed corners and folds. “It’s a little outdated, but it includes bisexuality, which is cool, because I had a lot of questions when I came out to my mom.”

Nico opened it. The first inside flap was a glossary. _Heterosexuality: the sexual preference and attraction to persons of your opposite gender._ was the first one. Below that: _Homosexuality: the sexual preference and attraction to persons of your same gender._ Nico felt his stomach drop. There was a word for it. He read on. _Bisexuality: the sexual preference and attraction to both persons of your own and the opposite gender._ His mouth went dry.

“You – “ he began in a choked whisper. “You’re – “

“Bi. Yeah.”

Nico looked up at him. “When did you know?”

“I was eleven?” Percy guessed, shrugging. Nico blatantly ignored the way his muscles rolled under his sweaty skin. “Go ahead and read those. If you have any questions, I’ll try to help. I just… I know you’re growing up. I don’t want you to feel like you’re not…” he frowned. “I mean, we’re not like everyone else. But we’re still normal.”

He disappeared into the bathroom and Nico opened the sexual identity leaflet. In the very middle fold, a huge header jumped out at him: You Are Normal. He bit back tears and read: _It is important for you to know, now that you have acknowledged your sexual identity, that there is nothing wrong with exploring your sexual feelings. Everyone does as they enter puberty. It is normal. Your sexual identity might not be accepted by those around you, but it does not mean that you are wrong. There are places and people you can go to for help and support._

Under that was a listing of phone numbers, websites, and even club addresses of organizations.

He picked up the other pamphlets. One had a diagram of a penis inside, which made Nico blush and squirm, but assured him that it was normal to wake up with an erection. That’s what it was called. Erections could be caused by a lot of things because the penis was sensitive and easily stimulated. 85% of the time it wasn’t Nico’s fault. It did mention that sexual thoughts or feelings could cause arousal, but he wasn’t supposed to feel guilty about them because during puberty – which lasted years for boys – it was normal for any number of things to be sexually stimulating. Nico relaxed. He read the other pamphlets about how he should expect other changes in his body. It was a little embarrassing, but it was also a relief. He didn’t have to ask Percy anything now. And he was normal.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter to prove that I CAN STILL WRITE THOSE.
> 
> *Rating to go up next chapter.


	7. Kiss the Boy

_January – March 2011_

* * *

 

For Nico’s fourteenth birthday, Percy snuck them into a Mythomagic convention. Nico tried not to be too excited. He hadn’t played in ages. He didn’t let Percy buy him anything, either. His duffel bag didn’t have enough room in it, and while it was nice to enjoy himself for the way, he didn’t want to carry the nostalgia around. He didn’t regret forgiving Percy, but sometimes he wished he had more reason to hate him than to love him.

He cursed under his breath. He resented the fact that his love had been given such an environment in which to thrive. At Christmas – their second together – Percy had bought them good quality walkie-talkies for their cases, but they spent that whole first night playing a weird hide and seek game all over the apartment complex they were squatting in, giggling over the channel. Percy offered him the empty side of the bed and Nico had been too elated to refuse. Ever since his headphones got smashed by the Taraxippus, he was having trouble sleeping again. He could get by on 4 hours, but sometimes he got less, his subconscious being dragged to the underworld and his own personal hell. It took everything he had not to blame Percy for the nightmare in which his sister was trapped in a massive bronze cavity and he took her place. The worst part was when he was suffocating and he could only weakly hit the walls, calling out for Percy, who never came.

Late February found them in Arizona. They battled wind spirits over the Grand Canyon to near fatal results; Percy broke his leg. It was the first time that Nico had to be in charge and get them to a hospital, using mist so that the police or social services wouldn’t be called about two minors. As soon as Percy had the cast on, Nico snuck them out and back to the motel.

“I’ll heal fast,” Percy assured him. Still, Nico had to go to the nearest hardware store and grab some waterproof tape and plastic bags so that he could shower comfortably. Actually getting him into the shower was another problem entirely. He held the towel securely knotted at his hip and waited until it was back on to help Percy out so that he wouldn’t slip. He went to bed early, claiming that he was tired. Unfortunately, his dreams were haunted by scenarios involving that towel falling. He had enough knowledge now to construct a fantasy of what could happen next and he woke up panting, his member thick and heavy between his thighs.

He made sure Percy was still asleep and thanked the gods that their bathroom had a fan. He turned it on and settled himself at the edge of the bathtub. It was hard to find release without feeling guilty. He knew he wasn’t hurting Percy, or violating him. The fantasy only existed in his mind, so it was okay. But it felt wrong. He wrapped his hand around his shaft, hissing at the contact. He closed his eyes and began to stroke. In his dream, the towel had slipped to the floor and Percy leaned heavily against him. “I’m sorry you have to take care of me, Neeks,” Percy whispered. “I owe you,” Nico had returned, leading him to the bed, helping him get dressed. 

He cleaned himself off in the sink and went back to bed.

* * *

 

When he woke up, Percy was watching the news.

“Do you have to do that every morning?” Nico snapped.

“If there’s anything strange going on, I feel like that’s where we’re needed.”

“Your leg is broken,” he deadpanned.

“It’ll be healed in a couple of days.”

“Oh? And how are we going to get the cast _off_?” his voice cracked.

“I figure we go to another doctor and convince him that he put it on six weeks ago.”

Nico frowned at him, kicking at the tangle of sheets. “I’m going to go get breakfast. What do you want?”

“Blue pancakes. I’d kill for blue pancakes.” Percy shut the TV off. “But I’ll settle for a breakfast burrito.”

Nico threw some clothes out and carefully peeled $10 from the roll of bills Percy had earned moving lawns in Idaho two weeks ago. He’d offered to help, but Percy refused. After making sure he didn’t need to go to the bathroom – another embarrassing position – Nico wandered down the street. He found a coffee shop that also sold small pastries and breakfast stuff. He bought orange juice for each of them, a breakfast burrito and a tomato and cheese pastry that sounded like pizza for breakfast.

They spent three more days that way until Percy decided that they should leave. Nico shadowed them to northern Nevada and they found a small hospital with an easily gullible staff. Percy laughed when the cast came off, saying that his leg felt really light. They gave him some after care meds before they let him go.

“I feel like driving.”

Nico rolled his eyes. “Of course you do.”

“Hey, I’m sorry you had to take care of me this past week.”

Nico blushed. “I owed you,” he mumbled.

Percy grinned. “Let’s find somewhere to squat for the night. Preferably near a car lot.”

They spent the night in a very nice RV parked in the airport lot. There was even some food in the fridge and they gorged themselves on late night snacks. The next day they watched out the windows for cars that they could borrow. Before dark, a nice little sedan pulled up in front of them and Percy deemed it a good enough target. The man who’d been driving it locked it manually, so it probably didn’t have an alarm, and the rear driver side window was left open wide enough for Nico to get an arm in. It was a tense 28 minutes coaxing the engine to life, but well worth it. The tank was three quarters full. Driving all night and part of the morning, they managed to make it to the Oregon coast before they had to ditch the car and get on a bus to Portland. They’d been scraping by effectively, so Percy got them a decent hotel and ordered in pizza.

* * *

 

Nico had nightmares those next few nights, but he said nothing to Percy. On the third morning, he woke up to the sound of the TV and groaned loudly.

“Neeks,” Percy pleaded. “We’ve got to get to Westport.”

“Are we _needed_ there?” he asked sardonically.

“Yeah. I think we are.”

Percy explained the case on the way to the bus stop. Five deaths had been reported in the past two days. At first, detectives were unsure of weather it they were missing, but that morning, trace blood evidence proved that at least two of the victims were dead. Percy argued that the others were dead, too.

“So what do you think it is?”

“Not sure until we get there and scope out the crime scene.”

As soon as they arrived, they put on their glamours and went to where the blood evidence had been found. “You’ll be able to tell if they’re dead, won’t you?” Percy asked.

“Yeah.” It was an ability that weighed heavily on him. They had to stay away from bigger cities because he could feel the amount of death in them.

The crime scene was crawling with people: detectives, reporters, CSU team people, people who got off on being around that sort of thing. Nico inhaled sharply the second they crossed the tape. “There,” he pointed to the sand. “Those are bone fragments.” Percy passed the information over to CSU.

“So, bone fragments and blood. No bodies. They were eaten alive?”

“Looks like it.”

“So, what eats humans alive?”

“A lot of things.” They went to the library and started doing research, both on Greek and traditional mythological monsters. Percy put a book on wendigos to the side in the ‘maybe’ pile. Nico dropped another atop it. “Whatever it is,” he said after two hours, “We have what we need to kill it. It’s either going to take bronze or fire.”

“We’ll start the stakeout tomorrow.”

* * *

 

Percy almost forgot what they’re really there for. It’s so calming for him to be on the beach. Nico tried so hard not to find it endearing, but when Percy said “This thing isn’t likely to attack during the day, c’mon.” It was a cloudy day, though, and Nico had the feeling that it was going to rain soon. Still, he went along with Percy’s seashell hunt. When their pockets were full of shells, they found food and camped out in a parked boat. Nico must have fallen asleep because when Percy nudged him awake, it was definitely darker out.

“I saw one of the busboys from the restaurant walking that way,” he hissed. “He was alone. Easy target.”

They followed behind as quietly as they could until the man got to his car, tense with anticipation. They followed a few more people walking alone, too, before they gave up and wondered if whatever they were hunting was either satisfied or had moved on.

We should watch out for a few more days, just in case, Percy advised. They went back to their motel but the next morning he rented one of the boats at the pier for the next week. Even though they were working a case, he was really excited for Nico to enjoy it as much as he did.

“I’m the captain, obviously,” he said. “You can be first mate.”

Nico blushed. “People are getting eaten, Jackson. We can’t be playing pirates.”

But it was hard to ignore Percy’s infectious attitude. So they played pirates, laughing as they tried to launch the boat. Eventually, though, because Percy was the son of the sea god, they managed it and actually went around the harbor for a bit before coming back for dinner. Again, they followed people wandering around the beach alone. An elderly homeless woman led them around in circles until Percy used mist to nudge her to the only homeless shelter in the area. The boat only had one sleeping cabin, and it was cramped.

“If it bothers you I can sleep on deck,” Percy said.

“Don’t be stupid,” Nico muttered. “It’s going to rain.” He hesitated. “It’s not like we haven’t shared before.”

Percy shrugged. “Yeah, but that’s when you were younger.”

Nico felt relief flood through him, secretly pleased that the other acknowledged that he was growing up. “It’s only for a couple of nights.” He didn’t mention the nightmares. They slept well, both of them, squeezed together with the water rocking them to sleep. In the morning, Nico woke up to Percy calling for him from up on deck.

“Check this out,” he said. In his hand he held a long, thorny spike.

Nico recoiled immediately. “Manticore.” Something else he had nightmares about. He’d been so confused and scared. But Percy had rescued him. “Do you think it’s still around?”

“I found this on the beach a couple of hours ago. I know it wasn’t there yesterday. There haven’t been any new disappearances reported, so I think something must have spooked it.”

“So it’s hungry.”

“No sleep tonight,” Percy agreed.

* * *

 

They decided that the most likely place it would appear was the rocky cliffside near the restaurant. Out of the five victims, three had been spotted there last.

“Hang back while I do most of the fighting,” Percy warned him. Nico didn’t complain. He had less experience with monsters and close combat. “If it gets near you, stay on the defensive and try to redirect it back to me.” He sat higher on the cliff to keep a lookout, and after three hours he was rewarded. He felt as though he’d swallowed a brick.

Percy waited until it had definitely become aware of the presence and ran up the cliff, back flipped off it and brought Riptide slicing down. The manticore turned reckless flawlessly on its leg, dodging and striking it back. They clashed and sparred for several minutes, Percy parrying the spikes it shot out.

Nico got closer without consciously thinking about it, hands unsteady on the scabbard of his sword. He caught Percy’s eye, the warning and panic in it, and then the manticare rounded on him. He used his lower stance to an advantage, stabbing without waiting to see if the blows landed and rolling underneath it. Percy covered him, catching it off guard, and triumph swelled in Nico’s chest. It started to rain, a gentle drizzle at first, and then steadier. Nico tried to repeat his earlier tactic, the beast had obviously learned their patterns and knocked him into the rocks. He heard the hiss of rain droplets being split open and dodged, but not fast enough.

He fell to the ground, his sword sinking into the darkness. Percy fought savagely, screaming his name, loud at first, and then fading away.

 _I’m dying_ , he thought.

As he struggled to keep his eyes open, everything seemed to slow down. Time, shifting like quicksand. Percy jumped high, footing on the manticore’s arm, spinning mid air and throwing all of his weight behind his sword. The manticore’s head thudded to the ground. Riptide cut into the sand and Percy ran toward him. The rain hung heavy all around them, crashing down the second Nico felt himself lifted up.

“Gods, no…” Percy prayed, frantically looking him over. He could feel blood through the wet layers of his clothes, salting the beach. He struggled for breath, feeling as though his left lung were being sucked out of him. “Gods!” Percy cursed. “Zeus, Hades, dad, please!” he chanted. Nico felt it all slipping away too fast. He wanted to reach out to Percy, but he couldn’t move anything.

Percy held him close and leaned over him, his breath so close it was all Nico could take in.

 _At least I’ll have this_ , he thought, and then Percy was kissing him.

It was brief, but the shock of it jolted Nico and he kissed back – just for a second, returned the pressure and wished that it meant something – before fisting Percy’s shirt and throwing him off. Percy flailed and scrambled back to him. Nico took a few, deep shuddering breaths and promptly passed out.

* * *

 

When he came to, he was in the boat. It wasn’t’ until he sat up and felt pain searing through him that he realized it hadn’t been a dream. The manticore was dead. He was alive. Percy had kissed him.

Holy ... Percy had _kissed_ him!

He lifted his shirt and saw the bandages. The wound didn’t’ feel too deep, but it hurt to breathe and move, even slowly, so he guessed that he’d broken a rib. The shock of the pain must have made him think that it was serious. He laid back down and turned his face toward the pillow. It smelled like Percy and he was asleep again in minutes.

The next time he woke, Percy was actually there, offering him clam chowder and apple juice. He took both gratefully.

* * *

Two days later, in a motel in Idaho, he heard Percy shift restlessly in his own bed. “Umm…” he said, because he knew Nico was awake.

“Yeah?”

“About… y’know. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Nico assured him.

“No, it’s not,” Percy spoke louder; angry, but with himself. “Your first ki- that’s supposed to be special.”

Nico wasn’t sure how to answer. All that mattered to him was that it had been Percy. That was special enough. “It was,” he said finally, exhaling deeply. “You thought I’d died. Then you decapitated a manticore. It was… _awesome_.” He pulled the covers up over his head, embarrassed even though it was too dark for Percy to see.

“Oh. Um. Okay.” Percy sounded more than relieved. “Good. Awesome,” he repeated breathlessly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I'm shit at geography. I apologize to anyone who actually lives in Westport.

**Author's Note:**

> Percy and Nico will do pretty much what Dean and Sam do, except hunting down Greek monsters. but they will never meet Sam and Dean. Sam and Dean do not exist in this story. Do not assume because I am drawing a parallel to the Winchesters that I ship Dean/Sam. I do not.
> 
> *  
> For reference:
> 
> Percy's Birthday is in August, Nico's is in January
> 
> in 2007, Percy is 14, Nico is 10  
> in 2008, Percy is 15, Nico is 11   
> in 2009, Percy is 16, Nico is 12  
> in 2010, Percy is 17, Nico is 13  
> in 2011, Percy is 18, Nico is 14  
> in 2012, Percy is 19, Nico is 15


End file.
